El Campo blow out well temporarily capped

By ADVOCATE STAFF REPORT
April 21, 2011 at 10:04 p.m.Updated April 20, 2011 at 11:21 p.m.

A temporary cap has been placed on a natural gas well that blew out in El Campo on April 15.

The blow out of the Kaiser-Francis Oil Co. well, off Farm-to-Market Road 2546 at County Road 453, happened about 8 p.m. that night, Wharton County Emergency Coordinator Andy Kirkland said.

The well was temporarily capped on Wednesday evening. Kirkland said they were just waiting for an OK that it is safe to reopen the roads and return to the area.

Thirty-seven people from 14 homes in the area were displaced by the blow out, and the surrounding roads were closed as safety precautions, Kirkland said.

In addition to Wharton County emergency management personnel, the Wharton County Sheriff's Office, the El Campo fire department, El Campo Emergency Medical Services, the Department of Public Safety, the Texas Department of Transportation and the Rio Colorado Chapter of the American Red Cross have been on the scene, Kirkland said.

The well was being worked on at the time of the blow out. Kirkland said they don't know how much natural gas was spilled from the time the blow out occurred until it was capped.